Consolidation and Coordination in Urban Areas

Austrian Research Promotion Agency

This proposal focuses on the important area of city logistics. It investigates an integrated urban freight simulation environment, a unique measurement framework for the environmental footprint of transport and logistics, and the performance measurement of new innovative urban transport and logistics concepts. Specifically, we deal with the different and important considerations of new transportation solutions, new mechanisms for execution and control of city logistics, and research on the urban distribution of goods reducing urban freight movements and its impact on residents and the environment. The fundamental idea is to stop considering each shipment, actor (e.g. shippers, Logistics Service Providers, etc.) and vehicle in isolation, but as components of an integrated logistics system to be optimized. The keywords are
CONsolidation and COORDination (CONCOORD) of the urban distribution flows that are currently fragmented. The project¿s results, simulation tools, and insights are, among others, disseminated via an important CONCOORD deliverable: the European Urban Transportation Experience Lab, or the EU/t ELab. CONCOORD involves key players in the urban transportation field, both from leading European universities and world-class Europe-based companies, who have expertise and experience in city distribution and who have the willingness to explore this issue for the benefit of all those in Europe.